As good early risers, four hunters of Confluencias Peruanas left Lima at 4 am of Saturday, October 8th, heading east, towards the city of Huancayo, with the hope to reach the confluence that same day.

We arrived at Huancayo at 10:00 am after going across the Cordillera Central, traversing the fantastic landscape of Ticlio 4818 m (which only Janet, the driver on duly, could enjoy, as the rest of us slept like logs).

This city welcomed us with a gentle but persistent rain which brought the first doubts about the possibility of achieving the goal. “The rainy season is ahead” citizens told us, “up in the Huaytapallana mountain the weather must be much worse and the road becomes very difficult”.

However, Robert, driving his red steed, a 4x4 wannabe hatchback, confidently sentenced “let’s go, we’ll do it” and all doubts left our hearts. So we looked for the route to Huaytapallana mountain, whose direction will lead us the nearest point to reach the confluence and start the final approach.

After driving about 50 km on a dirty road, with mud and rocks falling, we arrived at the nearest point to the confluence which can be reached with a car that, we must admit, it is not a 4x4. It was 1:00 pm, the rain was unstoppable and we had 15 meters ahead of visibility. Should we wait until tomorrow morning? We realized that we have not crossed a single soul on dozens of kilometers and thought “Ummm, there’s no place to shelter around here… What should we do?” Moreover, we didn’t have food for 24 hours… just some sandwiches and snacks for the short hike. Cold was the only thing abundant enough. We then realize that if we didn’t try to reach the confluence that rainy and cold afternoon, we would have neither the strength nor the courage for a tomorrow morning attempt. There were fifteen minutes of doubt until we decided: “let’s go! now or never!” And there we went.

The hunt

At 1:15 pm we started to walk, and as long as we got near our goal the rain began to ease. We did enjoy a beautiful landscape… of just a few meters around as the fog was quite thick.

The last 100 m before the confluence were supposed to be the most difficult, as the confluence was located at a 45° slope and we did not know if we will find wet rocks or pasture. At that moment we decided to have lunch hopping to have enough time to study the next steps to take, as the fog was still a ceiling covering all summits and cutting the mountains by half. Once again we were lucky, right in that moment the fog went 20 meters up, good enough to assess and memorize the final path to take.

Half and hour later we were hunting for zeros as the clock read 4:00 pm and the altimeter 4308 meters.

On our way back, with the satisfaction of the mission accomplished and in communion with mother nature, we could enjoy a bit more of the beauty of the valley, which showed itself off little by little, maybe shy, mysterious, no doubt magical.